Thursday, December 22, 2011

19 ways to get Naked with Urban Decay

You might remember I was the lucky winner of "The Plastic Diaries" survey competition, and the flagship of the generous prize package was this baby.. the much hyped Urban Decay Naked Palette.

So.. does it live up to the hype? And how useful is this palette, really?

Here's what we've got to work with.

12 colours, some matte, some shiny, all neutral.

If you assume 3 colours per look, with 12 colours you have 220 possible combinations with this palette. That's A LOT!

Of course not all of these combinations are going to work - for example, a dark colour up on your brow and light colour on your lid is probably not going to be a good look.

Rather than bore you with every possible combination - I've picked the top nineteen. For simplicity I have used the same pattern of eyeshadow for each one and kept it dead simple. Here's a diagram of a really basic "smoky eye / smokey eye " shading pattern. The diagram has clear boundaries between the "zones" but when you apply you'll be wanting to blend these boundaries.
The zones:

1. Colour on the inner and middle eyelid.
2. Highlight colour under the brow.
3. Shading in the crease, on the outer lid and along the lower lash line.

To quote the Jackson Five, "As easy as 1, 2, 3!"

Let's make it even more simple. 10 toned down looks for daytime, 9 more dramatic looks for nighttime.

Here they are in a handy video slideshow!

Those combos again for your easy reference:

Colour

Highlight

Shading

1 Sin

Virgin

Naked

2 Naked

Sin

Sidecar

3 Sidecar

Naked

Buck

4 Buck

Sidecar

Half Baked

5 Half Baked

Buck

Smog

6 Smog

Half Baked

Darkhorse

7 Darkhorse

Toasted

Half Baked

8 Toasted

Hustle

Buck

9 Hustle

Halfbaked

Darkhorse

10 Gunmetal

Virgin

Creep

11 Sidecar

Virgin

Buck

12 Buck

Sin

Half Baked

13 Half Baked

Naked

Smog

14 Smog

Sidecar

Darkhorse

15 Darkhorse

Buck

Toasted

16 Toasted

Half Baked

Hustle

17 Hustle

Toasted

Gunmetal

18 Gunmetal

Hustle

Creep

19 Creep

Gunmetal

Sidecar

Remember.. there's 201 more to try, so have fun!

Let me know what your favourite combos are in the comments. Are you hanging out for Urban Decay Naked2 ?

Fashion Adjacent?

Instead of "Fashion Forward" - where being "trendy" or "on trend" or "ahead of the next trend" is most important - be "Fashion Adjacent". You're aware of current trends, but you know that this season's trends are an optional dress up party, to be indulged in or ignored as your personal style dictates.

If you are "Fashion Adjacent", you:

Forget "trendy" and wear things you love whether they are "fashionable" or not.